my whole world stopped

[knittedbreast]

today i lost my daughter in a shop. I looked round and she had gone, i called her name, nothing.

i looked down all the eisles and i just couldnt see her. it was awful. i felt like everything was moving in slow motion like i couldnt react properly. then i couldnt find any staff (it was primark), so im running trying to find someone, anyone. I told them id lost her, suddenly security are there.

i must have looked a state, once the other mothers reaslised what had happened they grabbed their childrens arms. I could hear people staring and saying" thats ladies lost her baby, shes gone". it all went quiet.

I just thought to myself, god if i can have her back il never ever complain about her annoying me or whining again. I just kept looking but there was no sign of her, i cant explain how that felt. I just kept thinking the worst, someone had snatched her and run off with her and id never see her again, or worse theyd find her dead in a few days.

and then this couple are walking towards me and the bloke says "excuse me, have you lost your daughter? shes outside the shop. shed run towards the road from the shop and a lady grabbed her, shes with security".
I started walking towards security and there she was happily smiling, calling for me.

I just grabbed her, held her and cried. There is nothing worse than that feeling. i just kept imaging having to tell my boyfriend id lost our daughter. you could tell the staff and security were relieved, people looked me in the eye again. it was like they wouldnt look at me when they thoguht shed gone. It was horrible, they pulled their little ones closer like the fact mine had dissapeared might be catching.

im so glad i have her back.

Please watch your little ones, stupid to say but i looked away, just glanced.

im going to let her have her milk now.

lost my son on a playfarm when he was 4,he lost sight of his friend,couldn,t see me,panicked and bolted,lost for about 15 minutes.
that sick feeling you get is awfull.
POSITIVE,after being a prolific runner in shops,he has never done it again.
scared us both so much,we are now very aware of were one another are.
it only takes a second op,so don,t beat yourself up

I seem to find a lot of lost little ones. One time a what looked like an 18month old girl was just crossing the zebra crossing the same time as me. I looked at her and looked at the woman who had just stood next to her and she looked at me and we both knew that this child was lost so I said take her in that shop and call security and I'll look down here and lo and behold you could see a man tearing between shops, Waved him over he was the grandad and I thought he was going to have a heart attack he was so relieved I really felt for him.

My ds when he was about two and a half disapeared in my own house!
Just made a little sandwich for him and he didn't answer when I called him from the other room. I looked everywhere, I even went outside and bellowed up and down the street. That's when I knew I had to call the police.
I picked up the phone in the hall and heard a giggle. he was in the tiny tiny little triangular 18" high electric meter cupboard the little *.
You just can't forget that feeling though can you

LOL newgolddream! He sounds like a character !

Oh op I know how you must of felt, it's awful. I lost my dd once in a busy shopping mall. She was 3 and had actually skipped out of the mall to a park about ten minutes away. I was absolutely hysterical, running from shop to shop to find her. It was 30 minutes before we found her. We knew she had left the mall as security had seen her leave on the CCTV.

My dh went off to try and find her and a lovely lady had found her in the park and taken her to a local policeman! To this day I cannot be grateful enough to that lady! My dh bought her back to the mall where the security team were informing the police and when I saw her o grabbed her so hard and sobbed.

I honestly think that was the worse 30 minutes of my life :-(

I still get shivers thinking about it now. Just am so thankful to the lady that found my dd. If anyone happens to notice a lost child please help them to safety, your kindness will never be forgotten.

Oh OP so glad your dd is ok.

My ds was 2 when I lost him in Tescos. I was with my dad and ds was holding onto the trolley. I said I was just going to grab something in the next aisle. My dad reached up to the back of a shelf, looked around and ds was gone. He naturally assumed that he had followed me to the next aisle. He found me less than 30 seconds later asking "is ds not with you?" my heart too just dropped.

Everyone around us started searching when a member of staff said "oh we were just about to put out an announcement, well either that or send your ds home in a cab" apparently he had gone straight to a member of staff when he couldn't find me in the aisle and told them his name, DOB, address (including the universe!), my name, my dh's name and that he knew a taxi driver called John who is our neighbour and that he could take him home if the staff couldn't find me! the staff all thought he was hilarious and he is now well known in our local Tescos!

My DH (bit airy fairy) was walking through M&S with DD aged 4 or so and she was lagging...a passing middle aged woman said sharply "Don't let her lag!" and he was brought to attention by her...bless that woman.

Sorry you had the awful fear OP....glad he was found fast.

Reading the op my eyes are filling up, I lost ds3 age 3, he is non verbal and autistic. I was in argos buying a new house phone as ours had broken, he was in the buggy. I turned to pay, turned back and he was not in the buggy, I panicked. The shop is a tiny store in a shopping centre and there is an exit door next to the shop door going directly onto a main road. I just started screaming his name, the manager ran over, asked me what he was wearing, I answered and babbled about him not being able to talk, bla bla. It was only about 5 mins before he was found but it felt like ages. Worst thing was it was the shopping centre where James bulger was taken from which made me freak even more.

MrMeaner Not sure exactly; just emailed to find out. They did figure being on a resort beach, they were ok to let him run about alone. Their son said they were dressed like the rest of the staff. The police told them if they could afford it, just to pay. They are wealthy, so paying was easier I think then taking the chance of their child loosing a finger waiting for embassy to get involved.

I have found a few little wanderers in department stores and the first thing I do is calm them down and tell them we'll sit right here and stay put until your parents find you, cause they will find you.

Skinit My DH does that too sometimes.

We just put a chain lock on our door because while I was in the shower, DD decided to figure out how to get the door to hallway (we live in a condo) open. She came into the bathroom, begging me to come look at the door, so I did, and she was very proud of herself for being able to open it. Shocked me. She knows how to use the elevator as well, and the handles on all the out going doors are easy for LO's to use so could get out of the building in a moment.

My earliest memory is a reverse running-off story (in that my Mum didn't miss me). She let me off the reins for the first time in Sainsbury's and I wandered off down a dead-end aisle she was at the end of. Because I had my back to her (I was a little slow :o) I thought I was lost so I went up to a lady and asked her to find my Mum please. This lovely woman took me out of the aisle and there was my Mum - understandably a bit narked that someone else had hold of her DD - and she'd known where I was all the time. Needless to say I was back in reins for a good while afterwards.

My little sister and cousin (about 12 and 9) decided they wanted to go onto some rides at Legoland that we couldn't go on because his brother was too little. They wandered off when we were in the gift shop. I think they were missing for thirty or forty minutes until staff found them. I've never seen my cousin so panicked.

The only time I've really panicked (fingers crossed!) was over my sister. She was seven and went to a different school with a taxi service to the after school club. When she didn't turn up I asked where she was and all hell broke lose - the school had recorded an unauthorised absence (and my Mum was furious they hadn't called her... tiny school, she was never UA & Mum was friends with the secretary). A neighbour was meant to have picked her up for school as both my parents had to work early. I walked & my sister was left in the porch (frosted glass) with the connecting door locked. The NB drove straight past. The club called SS & my Mum, who was frantic, then they called the NB who went and sat with my sister until Mum got there. When she did SS had called the house & were on the phone to the NB giving her an earful. Mum was furious a) because J had been left but b) because SS were talking about doing an inspection. J didn't see the problem - she'd had a whale of a time eating her lunch early and reading her books... day off school!

I have an escapee. She got out of the house just turned two once. I'd left her in the room with my boyfriend and gone upstairs to clean. He ignored her leaving the room and she got downstairs and got out the front door. She was returned however long later by a nice couple who found her playing next to the main road. I collapsed with fright after thanking them profusely and shutting (and locking) the door, couldn't get up for a good five minutes, all the what ifs going through my head. I was so angry with myself for trusting him, we didn't last much longer to be honest. I have to keep the door locked and bolted still and she's nearly three.

She also managed to get out of my sight at the school. I was dropping off her brother and she bolted while I have a couple of children and parents in my way. I was seconds behind her, but when I got to where she'd last been there was no sign of her. Unfortunately the back corridor gate was unlocked and there was two lots of toilets. I stopped to search the toilets as I though that was where she'd gone, but actually she'd managed to go out the corridor, out the outside door, and round to the other side of the school where the parents were waiting with nursery children for start of the day. Me and my friend were looking for her for about 15 minutes, and eventually at the end there were about six members of staff looking for her. I'd been out on the playground and back to where I'd left the pram and not found her. I was so frightened she'd been taken, as there'd been an attempt a couple of weeks before which the school and police confirmed. Either that or she'd gone out of school grounds. I couldn't go look myself, so my friend went, and when I next saw her she'd found her. I cried hysterically. DD looked surprised by my outburst. She'd not been worried for one second, little minx.

DS was 6 and my friend's DS was 5 when we lost them both in a small wood near where we live. We were so worried, they just ran off and didn't answer us for ages. I waited by the entrance near the car while my friend went back to look. It was so surreal, and you can't help imagining that the worst might have happened. I was thinking of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

A car that had been parked by the wood had left, and I was at the point of calling the police when my fried called out she'd found them.

So frightening.

My whole world stopped when it happened to someone else! Busy shopping centre, little boy went missing for nearly an hour. He had managed to walk nearly half a mile from the centre on his own and noone had stopped him!

It's such an awful feeling isn't it. Just reading your OP has brought on the goosebumps, it's just so horrible. Thank goodness she was ok.

I hate it when that happens. We've had a few moments like that. Recently DS managed to escape from the SureStart centre and got onto the pavement. I just kept thinking how much worse it could have been.

I like reigns for toddlers for when it is particularly busy outside or at the shops.

How awful for you. This happened to me once at the zoo with DD2. It is soooo scary. Thankfully it was only seconds (seemed a lot longer) before she toddled along. I'm so glad you found your DD.

awwwwwwwwwwwwww hugs reading that had my in tears!!!

we were at a holiday camp in this country a few years ago when dd was about 3 - we were in the arcades walking around letting ds have a go on the machines before going in for the entertainment - ds started jibbering about something and i took my eye of dd for 5 seconds dh was with me too but i turned around and she wasnt there- it was the most awful feeling in the world hurriedly looking around whilst not going too far - i was screaming like a maniac at ds for mithering me and at dh for being a gormless i asked everyone who i saw had they seen a little girl until some kids pointed at her on the bloody tweenie ride smiling away like she didnt have a care in the world lol little buggah!!!!!